<![CDATA[No more coups: in fight to reform Thai military, millennials are a secret weapon]>

If Thailand's pro-democracy parties had a "moon shot" - besides overcoming severe handicaps to form government after the March 24 elections - it would be pushing through military reform when they come to power.

The sheer audacity of such a plan was revealed last month. Upon hearing the Pheu Thai Party's plan to cut the country's military budget by 10 per cent to fund job-creation initiatives, army chief Apirat Kongsompong reacted with fury.

Those behind the proposal, the Royal Thai Army commander-in-chief said, needed to listen to the song Nak Phandin - an anthem used by right-wing zealots who massacred pro-democracy activists in 1976. Its title roughly translates to "burden of the land".

The message from Apirat was clear - anyone who attempts to reform the military is an enemy of the state. So why are the pro-democrats so keen to plod along with this plan?

Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit, the billionaire chief of the Future Forward Party, gets slightly irritated when posed this question by This Week in Asia.

"That's not the right question I think. The right question is, 'Should it be done?' If it should be done, we will push for it, we will fight for it," said the 40-year-old politician.

"If we think it is not possible or not feasible, then we [should] stay at home and spend time with our families."

The Royal Thai Army, founded in the 1800s, has staged 19 coups in the past 87 years. Twelve of them were successful - including two over the past two decades against governments linked to the powerful Shinawatra clan.

Said Thanathorn: "Without reforming the military, you cannot end the culture of coup d'etat in Thailand."

His upstart party is among a handful of groups referred to as part of a loose pro-democracy faction. Pheu Thai, Future Forward as well as the smaller Seri Ruam Thai and Prachachart are among the parties observers say are part of this grouping.

Apart from a budget cut for the 360,000-personnel military, other proposed reforms include the downscaling of the country's conscription programme, into which some 100,000 men are drafted annually and have to serve terms of up to two years.

The parties say many of the conscripts are made to do menial work - often in servitude to senior officers - when they could otherwise be advancing their careers in the civilian world.

Another proposal is the relocation of army barracks away from the capital, Bangkok, to make putsches harder to organise. Coups have generally been staged by the large military force that lives within these barracks.

Watana Muangsook, a member of the Pheu Thai Party who is loyal to the Shinawatras, said these proposals had to be implemented within two years of a new government coming to power.

"We can do the reform if we win. And we must do it fast, within the first two years when the public gives us a honeymoon period," the veteran politician said.

Political analysts say they are on the same page as politicians on the need for reform, but are far less optimistic that it can actually happen.

For one, the structure of the post-election government - no matter who emerges victorious - means pushing through reform will be next to impossible.

While the lower house of the kingdom's legislature will be made up of elected lawmakers, the 250-seat upper house is fully stacked with military appointees.

"There's not going to be any changes as proposed by the political parties in the lower house, because the upper house will not agree," said Paul Chambers, a lecturer on security and international affairs at Thailand's Naresuan University.

The progressive platform of Thanathorn's party has a particularly deep resonance among millennial voters. Photo: EPA

In the off chance reforms do go through both chambers of the legislature, Chambers said he expected there would be "a coup by the army commander Apirat".

Still, Surachart Bamrungsuk, an international relations professor at Chulalongkorn University, said he saw one factor that could prove a catalyst in inducing military reform - the large number of young people who are speaking about the issue.

This aspect of the Future Forward Party's progressive platform has a particularly deep resonance among millennial voters.

"I think the world has changed. Young people don't think the same about the military any more and the military image has been poor in recent years," Surachart said.

On his part, Thanathorn said he has a razor sharp focus on "winning the war of ideas" over the issue.

This article originally appeared on the South China Morning Post (SCMP).

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